


Double Jeopardy

by snowynight



Category: Marvel Adventures: Avengers
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Mystery, Rescue Missions, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 01:31:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot of scientists're kidnapped,  including Jan's boyfriend Hank. And this's only the introduction of a Earth-shattering conspiracy.  The Avengers need to run against the clock to save the world</p>
            </blockquote>





	Double Jeopardy

Tony and the other Avengers were playing Fan Tan when Jan's mobile phone rang. She answered the call and after listening for awhile, she turned pale and said, "Hank's kidnapped!"  
  
"Calm down, Jan. Tell us what'd happen," Ororo said.  
  
"Today when Hank's new assistant went to the lab, she found that the lab was devastated and Hank was missing. I'm sorry, but I need to go."  
  
Steve put a hand over Jan's shoulder and said, "Let us go with you to help with whatever we can." Tony nodded along with other Avengers.  
  
"Thanks," Jan said, looking less worried. They then went to Hank's lab. The beakers and other equipment there were broken, the chair and table pushed to the floor.  Glass shards and liquid stain were all over the floor.

  
"This time Hank's in real danger, not like last time. There's no way he'd let the lab to be like this," Jan said, "I need to find out who's behind this and they'll be sorry."  
  
The detective in charge of the case was already there, and the crime lab people were combing the crime scene to collect evidences. Steve came to the detective and said, “Detective Ramírez-Arellano, nice to see you.”  

  
  
Detective Ramírez-Arellano seemed pleasantly surprised that Steve remembered her. Then she said, “Well, I can’t say it’s the best situation to meet you, Captain America. But don’t worry. We’re working on Dr. Pym’s case as best as we can. We’re concerned about him too.”  
  
She didn’t elaborate, but Tony knew the statistics: if the victims weren't recovered during the first three days, then it would be very likely they would never return again. Tony wondered what was the motive. Hank wasn’t rich, and he didn’t seem the type to have an enemy. Was it a revenge against the Avengers, or were there other secrets behind this?  
  
When the Avengers returned to the Mansion, Jan still looked worried and Ororo put a hand on her shoulder and said, “He’ll be fine.”  
  
“Thank you. I hope so too.”  
  
Then the phone rang. Steve answered it and said, "The police called us to say that several well-known biologists 're kidnapped in a short time, and Hank might be abducted by the same group of people."  
  
“It sounds more and more like a plot of supervillain now. We must rescue them as soon as possible” Ororo said  
  
"Let’s get to the cases,” Steve said.  
  
They received the information from the police, and held a meeting. “The attacks seemed to be synchronized as they were done in a short period of time, and there were no witnesses in all cases. These guys are professional,” Tony said.  
  
Ororo said, “Would it be the work of HYDRA or AIM? Not many organizations have the manpower for it.”  
  
“It’s very likely. Let’s contact SHIELD to see if they know more,” Steve said.  
  
Tony made a call, and Agent Carter answered it. She thanked the Avengers for giving her the information, and promised to look into it. “I’ll call you back when we have result,” Agent Carter said before ending the call.  
  
“I hope we can do more,” Jan said. “Hey, I have an idea. If Hank’s ant man helmet ‘s still here, we can use it to talk to the ants to see if they can give us more clues. Ants’re everywhere in New York any way.”  
  
“It’s a good idea, Jan. Let’s return to Hank’s lab to see if it’s still there.”  
  
“I’ll go get it,” Jan said, and Ororo offered to join her. After they had left,  Steve said, “I wonder why the scientists are kidnapped. There’re a lot of things they can be forced to do, and it can be a disaster.”  
  
“I agree with you. It’s an urgent matter,” Tony said.  
  
Logan said, casually showing some of his claw, “I’ll  hit the street to see if anyone knows anything,”    
  
“You do that.” Steve said, and Logan left.  
  
Peter stood up and followed Logan. “I’ll go too. Maybe Daredevil will hear something. One of the case happened near Hell's Kitchen. ”   
  
Steve and Tony remained behind. Tony reached over to hold Steve’s left hand and said, “Let me show you something that may be useful.”  
  
“All right,” Steve said.

Tony led him to his workshop. Then he pressed several button and a a computer came out. “I have worked with Wanda to combine her hex power and my technology to create this quantum computer, which can calculate the odd for the future. It’s a prototype, but I think it can be useful.”  
  
“Is it safe?” Steve asked.  
  
Tony reassured him, “Don’t worry. It doesn’t have an AI  and I put some safeguard in it. It won’t become Ultron or Vision again.”  
  
“All right. Let’s start it then.”  
  
Tony switched on the computer, started the program and entered data into it. Soon they had the result. “The computer said HYDRA and AIM ‘re major suspects, which we already know, but there’s a new suspect: Leader.”  
  
“I think Leader’s behind bar now, but you’re right. We should check on him just in case,.” Steve said, and Tony was glad that Steve trusted his invention.  
  
They returned to the meeting room to make call. The police confirmed to them that Leader has just escaped with Abomination, a day before Hank’s abduction. “It seems that he's now our number one suspect. I don't believe in coincidence,” Tony said.  
  
Steve replied, “Even if he’s not behind it, we should bring him to face justice.”  
  
Then Jan and Storm returned. Tony told them about the result of his computer analysis and Jan nodded. She then said, “I recovered Hank’s helmet and talked with the ants. It was a bit hard because I wasn’t used to that, but I think the ants told me that a giant got Hank into some kind of vehicle. It could be Abomination.”  
  
“Then we needed to track Leader,” Steve said.  
  
Logan and Peter returned, and what they said gave weight to the theory that Leader was behind it. They decided to contact SHIELD to ask for their help to check on Hydra and AIM, while they try to find Leader.  
  
Leader was a smart and cunning enemy though, and it was hard to find him. Therefore Tony activated the satellite system to look for any signs of Leader, while Storm took to the sky. Peter and Logan followed their leads from their contacts and Jan kept talking to the ants. Steve remained in the Mansion to coordinate the team effort. Finally they found out several possible sites as Leader’s base. The first one was a seemingly abandoned warehouse in the New York suburbs, with a suspicious high amount of traffic and lingering weird smell. When they arrived and watched from afar, they saw people in familiar AIM uniforms walking in and out of the warehouse. Apparently they found out AIM’s new headquarter. Therefore they decided to check it out in case it was AIM who kidnapped the scientists.  
  
The AIM people were stunted by their surprise attack and were quickly overcame. MODOC tried to control their minds again, but Tony had prepared for it by designing devices that could allow the Avengers to resist it. They captured MODOC and contacted SHIELD to take over. Then they checked out the place and interrogated the people. No signs of the scientists.  
  
Their next trip brought them to a HYDRA base, where its people were better equipped. Ororo flew to the roof and produced a whirlwind to take out a group of them, while Logan knocked two of the attackers’ heads together. Jan easily dealt with her opponents and Peter shot web to trap one of them coming at him. No one dared to touch Hulk.  They ran away from him. Tony and Steve penetrated the base and captured the leader of this base, but they didn’t get any information of the scientists from here too. Now Jan was visually more worried, biting her lips.  
  
At the last place they found gold. It was an abandoned underground missile silo, with the hatch so discreet that they wouldn’t have found it without the help of the ants. Then they needed to evade the security surveillance system, with the numerous security camera, sturdy locks and armed guards. There were also a ridiculous number of traps around the place,  making the Avengers’ movement difficult. But they finally succeeded to get into the deepest part of the base and found the scientists. Jan rushed to Hank and hugged him, and Hank hugged back. Then Steve asked, “Do you know why you are trapped here?”  
  
One of them said, “There's a green man with a really big head. He wants us to recreate the super soldier serum.”  
  
“What?” Steve asked.  
  
Then several of the scientists suddenly took out weapons from under their dusty white coat to attack Steve. Steve blocked one of them’s attack with his shield, kicked the other and when the third tried to shoot Steve, Tony shot a repulsor beam to knock him down. The other people looked shocked. One of them said, “I never know. I thought those guys were in the same boat with us.”  
  
Then a  familiar voice appeared, along with entrance of Leader and Abomination. “It’s obvious that I need to do the job myself. My dear boy, go take the star-spangled man”  
  
Abomination did as Leader told and targeted Steve, but Hulk stepped forward to wrestle with him, saying that, “Hulk smash!”  
  
“I ‘m not fighting you today,” Abomination said, trying get away from Hulk, but Hulk didn’t let him go. Leader sighed and pressed a button. The floor of the spot which Steve stood suddenly split open and Steve fell into it. Fortunately Tony caught him when the floor was closing again. Leader looked annoyed and tried to take out something from under his coat, but Logan knocked him down. After overcoming Abomination and checking over the scientists, the Avengers left Leader and his people in the capable SHIELD agents’ hand. Leader shouted when he was taken away, “You’ll regret it! You’re dooming the planet!” Tony ignored him as it was obvious just the usual drivel of supervillains.  
  
After that, Jan went with Hank to the hospital. Logan and Ororo said they needed to go to Professor X. and left. Peter had other places to go, probably meeting Mary Jane and Banner took the watch duty, leaving Steve and Tony together to return to the Mansion, where Tony said, “Let’s continue our game.”.  
  
“Sure, why not?”  
  
They went to Tony’s room and continued their session. They were playing a Lord of the Rings strategy board game, which Tony bought immediately after he came across it on the Internet and thought of how much Steve would enjoy it. He was right. Steve’s eyes was filled with delight when Tony showed and explained the rule to him. They had to flip a coin to decide who played the Light side, but Tony could proudly say that he was a graceful loser. Despite being at slight disadvantage with the fewer tokens and cards, Steve’s tactical mind soon brought the game to a state that they were equal. It was very exciting. When Tony was thinking of his next move, his communicator rang and it was Bruce, telling them that it was SHIELD business. Tony sighed and put down his cards, saying, “It seems that we have to wait for next time now.”  
  
Steve nods and said, “Let’s go.” They went downstairs and changed into their uniform and armour respectively  to meet Bruce, and he told them that Agent Carter was already on the call.  
  
“What’s the matter at hand, Agent Carter?” Steve asked.  
  
“Leader is in our custody now, but he claims to know of a secret that can threaten the country, and he'll only say it in Captain America’s presence. Can you come to our headquarter?”  
  
“Yes, I can,” Steve said, and Tony followed him to go to the SHIELD headquarter. There after security scan, they were greeted by Agent Carter, who led them to Leader’s cell.  
  
“Captain America's here now. Talk,” Agent Carter said.  
  
Leader turned to them and said, “So impatient.”  
  
“We don’t have time to play your game.”  
“All right. I would like you all to know that by ruining my plan, you doom the whole planet.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“My extensive research shows that the Earth will be facing an alien attack with a scale so large that the collective force on Earth now can’t face it, let alone defeat it. This’s why I try to recreate super soldier serum to create an army to fight it.”  
  
Steve said, “And you know that so far there’s only one success case.”  
  
“This’s the necessary sacrifice.”  
  
“And you don’t add something to it to make the army your puppet, do you?” Tony asked.  
  
Leader said, “How do you know? Wait, of course I’m only doing it for a noble goal”  
  
“Yeah,” Tony replied, pulling the sound long. “Well, we fought Galactus and won.”  
  
“It’s a bigger threat than Galactus. It’s known only as “The Great Old One.”  
  
“All right, time’s up,” Agent Carter said.  
  
When they’re on the way back, Steve asked, “What if at least part of what Leader said’s true? Then we’ll need to contact Fantastic Four.”  
  
“It won’t hurt, I guess, but I don’t believe him. As far as we know he’s just trying to spin a good story.”  
  
“Well, you’re right.  Let’s tell Fantastic Four and continue our game.”  
  
“All right.”  
  
Steve contacted Fantastic Four and Reed said he would look into it. For several days there was no further response from them and the Avengers were busy fighting the supervillains. Tony didn’t even get to finish the game with Steve.  Soon Tony forgot about it.  
  
Then Steve called them together for a meeting and Tony saw that Doctor Strange was here too. His presence only meant one thing: magical trouble, which annoyed Tony. But he was an Avengers. He could deal with it. “Why do you need us to be here?” he asked, keeping the whine away from his voice.  
  
“Doctor Strange spoke of a great threat to the Earth. Doctor Strange please. ”  
  
Then Doctor Strange said, “After my study of ancient scrolls, soon when the stars are aligned right, a grave threat from out of this world will descend to the Earth,”  
  
“What kind of threat?” Jan asked.  
  
“It’s spoken of with horror, and it’s said that it ‘s such a horror that it shatters the rule of the universe.”  
  
“How’s it different from Galactus?” Peter asked.  
  
“Galactus at least appear to us in a shape that we can understand. The mere presence of this new threat will shatter our sanity.”  
  
“Then how can we fight it?”  
  
“I’m studying for an answer, but I decide to warn you first because this threat will need combined force of the heroes to fight it.”  
  
When Doctor Strange left, the atmosphere was grave. Then Steve broke the silence. “We’re the Avengers. We have faced down gods and the like. This time we’ll face it just the same.”  
  
“Definitely. .I’ll inform Professor X about it, “ Ororo said.  
  
“Thank you, Ororo.”  
  
When they made the necessary contact with SHIELD and Fantastic Four, they gathered in the meeting room to discuss how to fight the invasion. “Whatever it’s, it can be fought with a nuke,” Logan said.  
  
“I hope we won’t need to resort to that. The nuclear radiation harms the world,”, Ororo said.  
  
Petr said, “It needs to come from something, so if we can stop it from entering...”  
  
“We can prevent the invasion,” Jan continued. .    
  
Steve said, “It’s a good thought. We need to investigate about it.”  
  
Then they started to discuss what tasks they would be responsible for. Tony then returned to his quantum computer and ran the program with the known information, slightly frowned when total destruction was listed as the strong possibility. He then went to his workshop to work on a better bigger weapon that could intercept such a grave threat. Then he paused when it was indicated one Steve Rogers was entering the workshop. Steve went to him with two stuffed submarine sandwiches and said, “Have your meal. It doesn’t help if you collapse.”  
  
“Thanks,” Tony said and took one of the sandwiches. They started eating and Tony told him about his plan, not telling him about the program result, ending with a note to lighten the atmosphere, “I think our game has to wait for a long time.”.  
  
“It’s a pity, but I hope we can continue it after defeating the invasion,” Steve said lightly, and Tony could understand what Steve was implying. Avengers never ran from a fight, and they would win it as usual.  
  
“We’ll. Then I can officially kick your ass,” Tony said.  
  
“The light side always win.”  
  
Unfortunately, supervillains didn’t have the decency to wait when the Avengers were planning for the alien invasion. The Wrecking Crew were robbing banks. The group that self-declared themselves Fearsome Foursome tried to destroy Fantastic Four again, and HYDRA agents were more active than usual. They were caught smuggling a missile as a plan to destroy United States and created a distraction by producing a team that duplicated several Avengers’ power. They were finally defeated and their plans ruined, but Tony was bone tired from all these. On the business front, the board members were relentless so Tony need to design a new device to appease them. He was so busy that he had to miss the basketball match time with Steve with great reluctance. Steve was considerate and told him he should relax more, but Tony still felt guilty about this.  
  
Then Doctor Strange updated them on the information of the coming alien invasion. He said, “I discover a turbulence of dark energy on Earth. Some people are trying to open a portal to summon the Great Old Gods.”  
  
“Who’ll do that?” Jan asked.  
  
Doctor Strange said, “I’m investigating it. Unfortunately, the summon of the Great Old Gods has awakened many monsters of evil and I need to fight them. I will update you when the time comes”  Then he disappeared.  
  
“It’s quite convenient for him,” Peter said.  
  
“This’s an important note. Let’s check up on the supervillains and evil organizations to find out who‘s behind this conspiracy. Let’s start from HYDRA first. We need to contact SHIELD to see what information they get from the base they raided,” Steve said and the others agreed to him. After then he contacted Agent Carter, who said she’d look into it.  
  
When Agent Carter got back, she told them that HYDRA’s computer showed that the organization had frequent contact with a group called Zodiac, and the relevant files hinted that HYDRA had heard of a powerful artifact  in their hands but still failed to get it. There was a lead: HYDRA had arranged a meeting with a person who was known only as Scorpio.

After that Steve said, “It ‘s a lead worth following up.”  
  
“Well, it’s good if you can follow this,” Agent Carter said and gave further information to them.  
  
The meeting was held at a secretive exclusive club, but Tony managed to get a membership into it. To be discreet, Tony and Steve were to infiltrate the club and intercept the meeting, preferably to bring people involved in for further questioning, while the others would be ready at any time for support..  
  
Tony and Steve changed into a tux to meet the dress code. When Tony saw Steve, he was amused to see that Steve was rather like a Mafia gangster with his build and the air that he was used to put on one. They were driven to the club by Happy and were admitted into the club after having their credentials checked. Then they went to the club room. It was decorated with a lot red and gold, but strangely it looked elegant rather than being cheap. The waiters and waitresses moved soundlessly. Tony and Steve went to their table, and ordered their food. Then they made small talk to make them look like normal customers. Then their target came. Tony discreetly brushed by him and planted a bug on him so that the rest of the Avengers could listen in to their conversation too.  
  
Their target was a dark haired man who looked like a well preserved 50 year old with a kind face, but his heated discussion with the HYDRA agent indicated nothing of this kind. It was all a cold-blood plan to destroy America and gain world domination. After Tony had heard enough of the incriminating conversation, they signalled the other Avengers. After then when their target left, they were captured and sent to the SHIELD headquarter despite fierce struggle. During the questioning, the man said, “It’s already too late. The Zodiac’s plan is now set into action.”  
  
“What can you get from the world’s destruction?” Steve asked.  
  
The man replied, “The Great Old Gods will grant us power.” Then he refused to talk despite their effort.  
  
The Avengers and the SHIELD got to work respectively. Logan and Peter went to their street contacts. Ororo went to Professor X. Tony and Steve returned to the Mansion to make use of the satellite system and the quantum computer while Jan tried to talk to the insects.  With the information they collected, they now found out the place Zodiac was about to summon the Great One: a business building right in New York's centre.

"We need a plan," Tony said. "The place was too crowded to risk a direct attack."

"What about..." Ororo made a suggestion and the Avengers agreed to carry out his plan.  
  
At the Zodiac’s headquarter, the other eleven members of the Zodiac were waiting. One of them said impatiently, “You’re late.”  
  
“I’m delayed by the Avengers, but I get away.”  
  
“Good, Scorpio. Let’s start the ritual.”  
  
Unknown to them, This Scorpio was actually Tony In disguise, having successfully infiltrated the building. He did his best to distract and get information from them. Then when a woman took a book out, saying that they would start the ritual,  Tony took the book away.  
  
“What?” a masked person asked angrily.  
  
“We’re fooled! Kill him!” Another one shouted.  
  
Tony ran from them and the other Avengers rushed in. Tony took the time to summon his armour to form around him. He then destroyed the book in his hand.  
  
“Go, my people! Stop the Avengers,” one of the masked women shouted. Then the heavily armed guards appeared to fight with the Avengers. Moreover, they needed to face the quick lizard men with sharp claws. A lizard man tried to claw through Tony’s armour, but Tony flew up in time to avoid it, leading several lizard men toward him and let them knocked at each other. He looked at the others, who were doing a great job too. Jan changed into her giant size, pushing and shoving the guards like playing with toy soldiers. The she changed into her original form to evade the bullets. Steve threw a shield to throw down several guards in a route that defied the physical laws, then had the shield back in time to block off an attack. Logan shows his claw to wrestle with the lizard people, obviously was enjoying himself and Storm rounded them to attack with her lightning. Finally the Avengers defeated the guards and lizard people. The Zodiac members tried to escape and made a good fight for it, but Hulk blocked the entrance and caught them easily. Despite their shout and scream of threat and bribery, the Avengers had them collected in the room and contacted the SHIELD agents to process it. At this time Tony could truly believe that the the alien invasion was avoided. After all the supervillains were rounded up by the SHIELD agents , Tony said to Steve, “I’m glad that everything went well after all.”  
  
Steve said, “I agree. It’s always a good day when the world is saved.”  
  
“Now we’re able to return to our game session. I can now defeat you.”  
  
“Haven’t you heard that the light wins at the end,” Steve replied with a smile, and then Tony flew Steve back to the Mansion, his heart delighted.


End file.
